This invention relates generally to footwear, and more particularly to overshoes adapted to be worn over other footwear.
Heretofore rubber overshoes (sometimes referred to as "rubbers" or "galoshes") which are to be worn over other shoes to protect the latter and/or to provide resistance to slipping have been of limited adaptability. In this regard such prior art overshoes have typically been constructed so that they are suitable for use on only one size of shoe (or, perhaps, one or a few slightly larger shoes--if the material forming the overshoe is quite elastic and can stretch sufficiently to accommodate the larger shoe without the overshoe tearing). This limits the usefulness of the overshoe substantially. Thus, a person having several shoes of different sizes or outer dimensions will necessarily have to purchase overshoes for each of those shoes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,465,911 (Morgan) there is disclosed a waterproof protector designed to be worn directly on a woman's foot, or over a woman's shoe, or between the shoe and an outer protective overshoe and whose height is adjustable to protect the wearer's hosiery. The protector comprises a closed foot portion forward of the heel, with the heel being open from rearwardly of the ball of the foot to a point above the bulge of the rear portion of a shoe or slipper worn under the protector. The protector terminates in a cylindrical top having plural horizontal tear lines or perforations. The user of the protector can sever the top of the protector along one of the tear lines to establish the height of the top of the protector and thus protect a portion of the wearer's hosiery from the ankle up.
While the shoe protector of the aforementioned patent appears generally suitable for its intended purpose of protecting hosiery, it never the less fails to make up for the aforementioned deficiency of the prior art, i.e., the inability of one size overshoe to accommodate shoes of differing sizes.